The Toledo Blade recently ran an article a few days ago about the recent Chrysler Group decision to not move foward with production of the Gladiator. Here's a snippet:

"Although Chrysler officials deemed the Gladiator wouldn’t be profitable in the near term, the automaker hasn’t scrapped the idea, Chrysler spokesman David Barnas said yesterday.

“You can never say ‘never’ forever,” he said. “For right now, we’re not doing it.”

The Gladiator concept made its debut last year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Its production version was to have a body-on-frame construction like the Jeep Wrangler, the latest version of which began production in July at a $900 million multifactory plant off Stickney Avenue.

Consumers are turning to cars and car-based sport-utility vehicles instead of compact pickups, and that segment is likely where Chrysler wants to concentrate limited financial resources, said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research Inc. in Bandon, Ore.

“The market for that type of vehicle [compact pickup] is really small,” he said.

Mr. Spinella said the Detroit-made Jeep Commander has not sold well, and Chrysler is rethinking the Jeep brand, which is getting two car-based models built in Illinois this year. Still, he said he wishes Chrysler would produce the Gladiator."

The new Commander is too much too late and the sales numbers are showing it.

The Compass....what a joke...nuff said

Rumors of more car based rigs..probably true

The new Wrangler's engine and mileage are a let down

The Gladiator killed--a dreadful mistake that drove me to Toyota.

Two weeks ago when DCXsaid the Gladiator was not going to be produced they set me free to buy the truck I've been needing badly. I was willing to wait though, for the Gladiator. I had set back more than $12K for the purchase of one of these rigs. Last week I drove into a Toyota dealership and bought the truck I needed (Tacoma). Did I bother to stop and look at another DCX truck product along the way? NOPE! DCX thinks that somehow the buyers of Toyota and Nissan trucks are interested in the Dakota, and that somehow they are directly compareable. Well, they are wrong and the small truck market is ripe for a hot new small truck. The smallest truck (ford) available right now to US customers is way out of date and the Dakota is boring and inefficient. I'd buy a full sized '07 Tundra or '07 GM/Ford first.

Anyhow I'd like to say Thanks to DCX for at least making a decision (albiet a bad one) 'cause I've ordered a truck that will last me at least a decade probably more.

"The new Commander is too much too late and the sales numbers are showing it."

Last I checked the Commander was the only Jeep model GAINING sales and is on track to beat the expected 70,000 annual units.

"The new Wrangler's engine and mileage are a let down"

Unfortunately the 4.0L couldn't live forever. Gas mileage has never been a priority for the Wrangler. There are plenty of other vehicles that serve this purpose. People have whined about the power/torque of the JK/JKL based on specs on paper but initial automotive tests have proved that it is more than adequate.

"The Gladiator killed--a dreadful mistake that drove me to Toyota."

With your high-level of brand loyalty (insert sarcasm here) you are not the type of person DCX will market to. And the Gladiator hasn't been officially killed, that is what this article says. My guess it has been tabled until the fools in the EPA can make some decisions regarding clean diesel technologies, as everyone has called for this vehicle to be available with a diesel engine.

Uh huh. Could that be because there are currently no (good) compact pickups? Which comes first, the chicken or egg? Innovate, DC. Risk a little. Define what is popular; don't let what is popular define you.

“The market for that type of vehicle [compact pickup] is really small,” he said.

Uh huh. Jeep fans hopping up and down like it's Christmas, drooling on themselves, and truly excited about a new Jeep model for the first time in years.... obviously all signs that there's no market demand for this vehicle. When was the last time Jeep had that many people waiting anxiously just to be *put* on a waiting list to get a vehicle, if it were ever produced?

Chrysler's Jeep division will not put its Gladiator concept into production, according to a published report. Jeep has no intention of returning to the compact pickup segment any time soon, chief operating officer Eric Ridenour told Ward's Auto. Despite a favorable consumer response, Ridenour says Jeep determined the project would not be profitable. Ridenour said he feels the Dodge Dakota is sufficient to compete in the compact pickup arena.

Though Jeep's lineup will grow to include eight models by year's end, a small pickup based on the Gladiator concept will not be one of them. Introduced at the 2005 Detroit auto show, the Gladiator concept was based on a unique platform though would have likely shared underpinnings with the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited if produced. The Chrysler Group's COO Eric Ridenour told Ward's Auto, however, "It wasn't profitable".

Ward's points out that while some Jeep enthusiasts might be disappointed their favorite brand won't be fielding its first pickup since the Comanche was cancelled back in 1992, the decision not to produce the Gladiator shows analysts that Chrysler is practicing some restraint amidst its current product blitz.

The small pickup segment has been virtually abandoned by automakers as models like the Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier have grown large enough over the years to be considered midsize trucks and adopt five- and six-cylinder powertrains. The small pickup segment is still dominated by the Ford Ranger, a vehicle that hasn't been significantly redesigned in over a decade. Is Jeep passing up on a golden opportunity or has the small pickup segment permanently run out of gas?

XJ's were old school minimalist boxy with clean lines like Volvos. They were boxy as a function of efficiency and practicality. Hummers and the Commander are boxy as a function of big macho masculinity and bold excess with a buch of plastic and clutter to mess up the lines. If you took all that extra crap off of the Commander and made it look like a gaint old school 240 or 740 wagon it would have been so much cooler. I guess that is what I ment about Jeep imitating hummer.

I haven't forgotten the XJ blieve me! I am 32 yeas old and I have owned 3 vehicles in my life. An 84 CJ-7 a 1990 XJ and a 2002 Tacoma. I loved my XJ and finally sold it in 2001 after I didn't have the time to work on it and keep it running. I wheeled the snot out of that thing but just didn't have the time to keep the little things working that kept popping up which were caused by the thing sitting for 6-8 weeks not being used due to being out of town for work. I wanted to buy another XJ but they stopped making them and the Liberty was not even close to being as off road capable as I wanted.

I bought the Tacoma thinking I would keep the XJ and keep building on it but after having a new vehicle and all the function of a pick up bed I had to say goodbye to my favorite vehicle ever the XJ. I have been waiting to get back into a Jeep ever since if they would make something I want again. Still waiting :(

go to walmart they are offering a R/C Gladiator the same color as the pic...its the only gladiator your going to get anytime soon...so strap in an old school GI Joe in your gladiator and have some fun....DCX has lost touch with its consumers anyway...and toyota is taking over the market with american car makers are losing ground and keep on doing the same song and dance....

Did anyone else read the paranoid "inbetween the lines" of this comment:

"Mr. Spinella said the Detroit-made Jeep Commander has not sold well, and Chrysler is rethinking the Jeep brand, which is getting two car-based models built in Illinois this year. "

Rethinking the Jeep brand? 2 Car models and rethinking Jeep? That's a little more than a paranoid person needs. With the EPA standards for mpg going up and DCX unable to make improvements on the mpg of the new wrangler (thanks for the added weight and the v-6), or heaven forbid a Bluetec engine that passes all 50 states, it makes me a little more than worried.

Limited financial rescources. 1. HA! That's funny DCX is a mom and pop company LOL!2. The R&D is already done.

The market for that vehicle is small. But the market for Wranglers is so big? The market for Wrangler Unlimited is big enough in a time of high gas prices etc but not the Gladiator?

Consumers are turning to crossover blahblah...OK build a fully unitized chassis that will support a sub 2500# micro Samurai like Jeep, An awd Scion thingy and a Subaru type family wagon doodad with a40mpg diesel

If you won't build the obvious with the Gladiator then build something that would create some excitement and expand the Jeep line with vehicles that consumers want that don't completly ruin the Jeep idea.

And for good measure stop immitating Hummer's in the styling department. A Hummer box on wheels with a 7slot grill does not a Jeep make. Hummer should be imitating Jeep not the other way around!

Hummer IS imitating Jeep, and to an extent doing a better job at it than Jeep is, certainly when it comes to marketing. The simple fact that so many people think the JK looks like a Hummer is proof of that. How quickly people forget Jeep's great little BOXY SUV that was produced for oh... 18 years??? Is the XJ really dead AND forgotten?? Jeeps have ALWAYS been boxy anyway, aside from KJ and WJ.

And FYI, Hummers themselves are boxes on wheels with a 7-slot grille. And if you were to see an H3 and JK-U parked side-by-side, you'd see that they're really quite different, at least as different as boxy 4-dr SUVs with a spare on the back can be... The H3 looks a whole lot more like my XJ, than it does a JK.